(1) Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the handling of round bales of hay, and more particularly to loading them from the ground and transporting them to a remote location. A farmer or rancher is one having ordinary skill in this art.
(2) Description of the Related Art
In recent years, round bales for hay have become popular. Perhaps over half the hay baled is now baled in round bales. Despite many advantages of making round bales, the handling of round bales presents problems. Many solutions have been proposed for handling round bales of hay.
One of the solutions has been a tilting carrier. Examples of tilting carriers include:
______________________________________ Inventor Patent Number Issue Date ______________________________________ ROWE 3,938,682 02/17/76 KANNADY ET AL 3,985,253 10/12/76 ARMSTRONG 4,084,711 04/18/78 BALTZ 4,089,425 05/15/78 BROWN 3,944,095 03/16/76 ______________________________________
ROWE, KANNADY, ARMSTRONG, and BALTZ all show cradles or the like which are mounted upon ground engaging wheels. When the brake on the ground engaging wheels is locked, the pickup is moved backwards, the rear of the cradle engages the ground, and the cradle is moved to an upright position adjacent to the bale. The bale is then captured onto the cradle by spikes on the end of arms, loops on the end of arms, chains, or the like. Then when the pickup moves forward, the platform is brought to a level position elevated above the ground with the bale of hay restrained thereon.
The bale is carried to a remote location in the cradle. It is noted that applicant has used the term cradle to describe how the bale is carried, although it might be noted that in ARMSTRONG, it is carried on a platform rather than a cradle.
BROWN discloses a device with a winch and a bridle for rolling a round bale of hay onto a platform which is tilted sufficiently so that the bale of hay can be rolled up the incline by the winch.
Each of the devices carries one bale of hay and represents the device for easily loading and carrying one bale of hay and unloading one bale of hay.